Waaagh! Morkdred
Waaagh! Morkdred was one of the most devastating ork invasions that targeted Vigilius sector. Occuring between 970.M40 and 982.M40, it managed to successfully invade, destroy and loot number of Imperial worlds in northern Vigilius sector and in the neighboring Arteside sub-sector, before it assaulted the forge world Magna Cupal where it was countered by the joint efforts of Ardens Aestus and Firewyrms titan legions. Aftermath of Warboss Morkdred's invasion lasted for centuries as the once fallen Imperial worlds were invaded and the orks on worlds destroyed. Not all pockets of resistance were ever successfully culled and especially in Arteside sub-sector, where the sub-sectorial governance had been completely destroyed, a number of spore worlds were left untouched. These worlds would eventually herald new warbosses and new Waaaghs!, each more prominent than the last. History Birth of the Warboss Later inspections on the birth and rise of Boss Morkdred has led Imperial scholars into a conclusion that the "ground zero" of the Waaagh! was the quarantine world Iota-Omicron 11(36620.781). Iota-Omicron 11 was located in a little surveyed area north-east from Vigilius sector and east from Arteside sub-sector. According to the surveys conveyed by Rogue Trader Erika Stormruler in mid-M36, at least fifteen planets had been infected by the spores of the Green Menace. Even if a crusade to cleanse the worlds was called for in M36, it was never launched and the worlds were left alone, free to prosper without interruptions. On the world of Iota-Omicron 11 - allegedly - the feral orks had formed some clan sentiments, most prominent of them being the Goffs. Tribal tendencies of the orks had seen the rise of numerous bosses on world and their internal strife had swiftly raised the number of the orks, and the struggle thereof. Loop which feeds on itself, as ork bosses fell and more prominent ones replaced the last, there finally emerged one above all others. Boss Morkdred was a terrifying combination of both brawn and brains. Cunning beyond the more straightforward members of his Goff brethren, some even considered him as a Blood Axe. Morkdred was not only cunning but also - for an ork - patient. As his tribe would tremble of the agitation and anxiety of the coming battle, Morkdred could calmly analyze the situation at hand and act accordingly. Some time around 960.M40 Boss Morkdred led his tribe off-world and headed - by orkish means - to the other planets of Iota-Omicron region. Battling his way to supremacy, Boss Morkdred smashed the Boss Muskgoff and his tribe of Goffs on Iota-Omicron 12. He bested the challengers Mek-Boss Lektric and Bigboss Urdheffs on Ulkein Worlds and subdued the squiggoth riders of Tusklord Bigord the Gargantuan on Erik's Fall. Words of Morkdred spred among the ork-kind and many flogged behind him. Imperial scholars assume that at least six worlds in total managed to pour their numbers into Warlord Morkdred's pool of ork-power before the first rival warboss appeared. Hailing from the orkworld Thunder's Retreat, located on the border of Arteside sub-sector, Warlord Furor Biklaw led a mighty tribe which had fed on itself for too long. Now the tribe was united against the Morkdred and as the tribe of Morkdred fell on Thunder's Retreat, war of prestige, glory and all things orky, began. As no Imperial records exist about the motions of the orks, it has not been concluded how long the infighting between the tribes lasted. In 968.M40 Imperial chartist captains reported increased ork activity within Arteside sub-sector's warp lane - which led northwards to Attila and Corinthe - and increasing amount of ships were missing around Arteside sub-sector. As the orks heard of the good fight on Thunder's Retreat, they found their way on world to battle of the supremacy and while doing it, pillaged nearby warp lanes, colonies and other ork worlds, drawing ever more orks into the fight. In 970.M40 Boss Morkdred struck down his rival Warlord Furor Biklaw on the Tempest Ridge and awed the ork-kind on world. He had become the Big Boss, Boss o' Bosses; the Warboss. Arteside Battlefleet Arteside encountered Waaagh! Morkdred in 6.200.970.M40 as it destroyed the patrolling pair of Dauntless class light cruisers. From there on the Waaagh! invaded Hestedia system in 5.218.970.M40, Vesfall in 4.300.970.M40 and lastly the capital of the sub-sector, Arteside Major during the same year. Battle of Arteside Landing, a fleet engagement between Battlefleet Arteside and Waaagh! Morkdred, occured in 4.500.971.M40 as the battlefleet massed to defend the jump-point Arteside Landing. Only the Dictator class cruiser Relentless Tide and three Dauntless class light cruisers managed to escape the destruction via emergency warp jump. Two of the three Dauntless light cruisers were lost in warp and have never been seen since. Captain Hercule Passero was demoted by the Imperial Navy command after he abandoned his attack craft wings on the Arteside Landing. Sub-sector Arteside was falling and the Imperium had failed to defend it. This put a clear signal to Turbela and Vigilius sector about the level of threat lying just behind their borders. Vigilius In 4.203.973.M40 the Waaagh! landed on Truman's World. The ocean world massed its population into defense of the narrow archipelago on which the cities had been built. Three fearless regiments of the Truman's World Shock Troops performed a valiant counterattack against the first wave of invading orks and beated them into the seas, but there was more to come. Astropathic Choir on Truman's World was destroyed in 5.541.974.M40 after it had transmitted a help request for over a year. Senatorum Vigilius was unwilling to agree on a method of countering the vast orkish horde threatening the sector. Majority of the Waaagh! was still located on the southernmost worlds of Arteside sub-sector - Karrakuna III and Gestortos system - so many of the senators argued that there was no rush and that a good planning would be half of the victory. Governor of Drucox and the prefect of Drucox Superia sub-sector Huan Semina-an-Hasalrah departed the senate in anger to defend his home in 975.M40 but was apparently ambushed near Verelax system when attempting to jump into Drucox system. A large tribe of Warboss Katrif Big'ead, the biggest rival of Warboss Morkdred himself, invaded the Verelax system in 975.M40. This caused Warboss Morkdred to prove his superiority and he also attacked the sub-sector capital reaping on its large defense forces. Industrial world of Verelax proved for the Waaagh! as a massive achievement and the amount of meks and lootas increased significantly after the world was lost. Warboss Katrif Big'ead was driven off world by Warboss Morkdred after what he invaded the Saint Antias' Hope in 978.M40 with a large ork horde behind him. A new group of orks joined the fight from Iota-Omicron region in 976.M40 as it invaded Hos Calwor. Defence on Hos Calwor managed to repel the attackers after sustaining atrocious losses. Second attack that came in 978.M40 saw the world put on its knees, its human population fleeing into remote islands and mountain strongholds waiting for Imperial intervention. Departmento Munitorum took the matters in their hands in 978.M40 after the news of the fall of Hos Calwor and invasion directed to Drucox system were received by the Senatorum Vigilius. High Magistrate of the senate was replaced by a degree passed down from the Adeptus Terra and Lord Admiral Jan Tohai of the Battlefleet Vigilius began to coordinate an intervention with the new High Magistrate Ylva Jokio. In 979.M40 the Waaagh! Morkdred overcame Drucox system and invaded Aclosos which defense had been bolstered by 95th, 96th and 100th Cerbera Heavy Infantry, and 322nd and 350th Novossian Rifles regiments. Morkdred himself was however not at all interested about Aclosos, even if the fighting there was more intense and fierce than it had been on previous worlds. Warboss Morkdred was already preparing an invasion on the forge world Magna Cupal. Magna Cupal Stands Fabricator General Nemo Alkaides of Magna Cupal had organised the defences on his world according to the preferred tactics and force compositions of Waaagh! Morkdred. Titan legion the Firewyrms was recalled to defend their home and assistance from Ivaldi Primus was requested. Legio Ardens Aestus and two skitarii macroclades joined the defence from Ivaldi Primus by taking a precarious, short warp jumps from Ivaldi directly to Magna Cupal. Thin atmosphere on Magna Cupal made the world ill-suited for Astra Militarum troopers which is why the sector's relief forces had been formed on Turbela and were already advancing towards the fallen world of Verelax. Ork ram ships crushed on Magna Cupal in 4.405.980.M40 piercing through the thick walls of the Fortress of Motion in northern hemisphere. Had it not been of the joint efforts of two titan legions, a ram ship had surely hit the priceless Dome Magna Mechanicus, destroying it utterly. The magnificent titan Ivaldian rained death upon the orkish horde which assaulted the mechanical constructions of the Mechanicus. Arch-Genetor Suppreme Oved Askioples shamelessly turned the assisting Imperial Guard regiments of the Novossian Rifles into hulking biomutants and launched them against the fiercest ork nob mobs with a great success. As the ork began to reap on the spoils of the destroyed Fortress of Motion, an ancient mobile fortress, they built construction yards and workshops from where more and more bizarre technological creations poured in the war against the Mechanicus. Nobs only grew in size and their mega armours became better crafted and better equipped with every passing day. Battlefleet Vigilius fought against the Waaagh! in Cupala system but was finally driven out by the orks who had looted the destroyed Imperial vessels. In 981.M40 the Warfleet Ultima assigned vessels for the cause and finally in late 981.M40 the embolstered Battlefleet Vigilius led by Lord Admiral John Vincent the Imperium triumphed against the fleet of Waaagh! Morkdred. Flagship of the Waaagh! Dredrok Biggus was shot into pieces by the broadside salvos of the Retribution class battle ship Furor Constancis. On Magna Cupal the fortresses on northern hemisphere were mostly destroyed and the skitarii legions systematically cleansed the ruins of the destroyed manufactorums and collapsed temples of any and all traces of orks. The destruction of the Olympos Gates - gates which led to the Titan Forge of Magna Cupal - was the most grievous loss on Magna Cupal. Especially as it had been caused by the rampaging titans of Legio Ardens Aestus, and not by the orkish horde. Fabricator General Nemo Alkaides banished the titans and all members of Ivaldi forge from his domain and the rivalry between the forges turned into a hostile one. Reconquest The Vigilius Reclamation Army was launched from Turbela northwards at the same time as the Legio Ardens Aestus began its purge on Aclosos. The Reclamation Army, led by Marshal Vittori Lom, advanced to Verelax where the pockets of human resistance had managed to hold a constant distress signal through an Astropathic Choir located on world. Second battle group of the Reclamation Army made planetfall in 982.M40 on Saint Antias' Hope, its Imperial Guard regiments embolstered by tens of thousands of crusading Frateris Militia looking for absolution. On Saint Antias' Hope the Imperial forces found an unorganised foe as at least ten different tribes were fighting over the lordship of the world. As if by miracle, the Oxkeep castle and the Shrine of Saint Antias had remained intact and it was transferred into the headquarters of the reclamation. Frateris Militia passed the brass ox of Saint Antias singing praises and making small offerings for it before they followed the Confessor Eliakov into a war against the green horde with flamers and chainswords. The Imperial Guard took a more meticulous approach to the purge and supported the fanatic mobs with indirect fire, smokescreens and firelines. Saint Antias' Hope was retaken in 984.M40 with minimal casualties, as if willed by the Emperor himself. Marshal Vittori Lom directed his first battle group on Verelax and liberated the city of Port Verelax Maxima relieving the astropaths of their long duty. On Aclosos the Legio Ardens Aestus was noted to completely eradicate remaining troops of the 322nd Novossian Rifles with a plasma mortar barrage leading the Imperial troops into dismay. Legacy Waaagh! Morkdred left a major part of Vigilius sector in ruins and it almost wholly destroyed the sub-sector Arteside. Arteside sub-sector was rehabilitated by forced recruitment of Imperial citizens from at least Turbela, Lova system, Sareen Cardinal and Cerbera. Proto-hive world of Arteside Major turned into an industrial ghost town as its population shrinked 15 billion into one billion persons. Most of the world turned into a dangerous wastes and badlands where bandits and criminals ruled the societies. Situation was not brought in line before mid-M41 when Adeptus Arbites reconstructed their fifteen precinct fortresses on world and began to violently enforce the Imperial rule. Warfleet Ultima commanded Battlefleet Arteside to be rebuilt and it was done by major efforts of the Creid Lambda's shipyards. Even if the major worlds of the sub-sector were destroyed the warp lane remained and the worlds of Hestedia, Gestortos and Vesfall were wholly rebuilt to preserve the stable warp route. Notes Category:Ork Waaaghs! Category:Orks Category:Vigilius sector Category:Destroyed